The Sundance Film Festival was the brainchild of Hollywood star Robert Redford. For the past several decades its screenings, scholarships and workshops have provided a launching pad for films vying for American commercial distribution. This year 112 films have qualified for the diverse venues around Park City, Utah, from Jan. 24-Feb. 3, 2019.

A growing number of the entries are from women, LGBTQ and minority filmmakers, with casts and subjects that reflect an ever-increasing variety and ethnic diversity. Our annual Sundance report begins with films competing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition, with the world debuts of 16 narrative features. Women comprise 53% of the directors in this year's U.S. Dramatic Competition; 41% are people of color; 18% identify as LGBTQ. Fans of our Frameline LGBTQ festival should know that Sundance is an important source of future queer hits.

"To the Stars" (director Martha Stephens) A withdrawn farmer's daughter forges an intimate friendship with a worldly new girl in 1960s Oklahoma.

U.S. Documentary Competition: 16 world-premiere American nonfiction films. 44% of the directors in this year's U.S. Docs are women; 22% are people of color; 5% identify as LGBTQ.

"Always in Season" (director Jacqueline Olive) 17-year-old Lennon Lacy is found hanging from a swing set in North Carolina, and more than a century of lynching African Americans bleeds into the present.

"Apollo 11" (director Todd Douglas Miller) An archival reconstruction of humanity's first trip to another world.

"Bedlam" (director Kenneth Paul Rosenberg) A psychiatrist makes rounds in ERs, jails, and homeless camps, a personal journey into the world of the seriously mentally ill.

"David Crosby: Remember My Name" (director A.J. Eaton) The life of a Woodstock-era rock star with everything but retirement on his mind.

"Hail Satan" (director Penny Lane) A look at the intersection of religion and activism, tracing the rise of The Satanic Temple.